NATURE'S REALM. 59 
golden opportunity tamgled with my congrat- 
ulations ; and this H ’s sympathy, though 
perfectly genuine, did not tend to dispel. A 
chance of a tiger lost, and all through an inop- 
portune dose of fever. But such is sport ! 
We shot on together for ten days with fair 
success, when H was summoned to his 
estate. I still cherished a fond hope of coming 
across the tiger on whose domain we had in- 
truded, and decided to remain a few days 
longer, so H—— went back alone. 
Not far from camp, at —mund, was a cattle 
kraal, which was occupied at the time by a 
mixed herd of cows and buffaloes, under the 
charge of some Badagas, who had come out to 
this remote spot in search of pasture. Two 
days after H—— left me, a Badaga came to my 
camp with the news that on the previous night 
he had been awakened by the sound of a 
scrimmage going on in the kraal. Rousing 
his companions, they made as great a din as 
they could, and after a short time the scuffling 
ceased. Morning showed them that a tiger 
had cleared the wall of the cattle pen, and had 
killed no less than five cows. This made me 
set the marauder down as a tigress, for the 
spirit of mischief is ingrained in the sex. The 
Badaga had posted off to me with the news, 
and I at once went back with him to the kraal. 
I thought it probable the tiger might return, 
and determined to sit upforhim. But where ? 
was the question that puzzled me. The kraal, 
simply a circular stone wall about four feet 
high, was built on the open hill-side ; not a tree 
or bush was there to afford me shelter. I was 
fairly nonplussed, but at last a bright idea 
struck the Badaga. Why not sit up in his little 
hut? Though I did not quite relish this, there 
was no alternative, and I resolved to adopt this 
course. The hut formed part of the circumfer- 
ence of the wall, and was roughly built of 
stone. The walls were of rubble, and several 
long slabs of stone laid across these formed a 
roof, the entrance facing inward toward the 
kraal. It was necessary that the Badaga 
should be with me, for this race has a very 
strong and quite distinctive smell, and the 
absence of the aroma might have made the 
tiger suspicious. This may sound absurd, but 
I believe that had I sat up with Bill, a Tamil, 


the tiger would not have put in an appearance, 
owing to the difference in the efluvium. But 
to induce the herdsman to watch with me was 
no easy matter. He had been thorough)y 
scared the previous night, and refused point 
blank at first, begging me to let him stop with’ 
my men in camp. The promise of exam 
(money), however, brought back his courage, 
and I agreed to meet him at 6 P. M., after the 
cattle had been driven home. He promised at” 
the same time not to disturb the carcasses. | 
was there true to time, and we began our figil! 
directly twilight fell. We chatted in whisper$ 
for some time, and at length I bethought me ot 
a flask I had put in my pocket before starting 
from camp. I took a mouthful, and poured 
out a stiff dose for the Badaga. This dispelled 
his fears, for he thumped his chest, and gal- 
lantly declared himself ready to meet the tiger 
face to face. Very soon, however, the spirit 
had a soporific effect, and the Badaga sank 
back buried in blissful sleep. Night spread 
her sable mantle over us, and the animals 
crowded in front became gradually more 
blurred, until shortly I could distinguish noth- 
ing but a shadowy black mass. The only 
sounds that broke the deep silence were the 
inexplicable voices of the night, mingled with 
the crunch, crunch, of the cows all round us, 
and the stertorous breathing of the Badaga. 
Time sped on, and the moon rose in all her 
queenly majesty, bathing the kraal in a flood 
of tender ivory light. My thoughts strayed 
back over the gulf of years to other scenes and 
another clime ; and in fancy I pictured how on 
just such a glorious night I had strolled by a 
moonlit river, with a maiden ‘divinely tall, 
and most divinely fair” by my side, and had 
sworn by Ashtaroth, Queen of Heaven, that 
neither time, nor space, nor the gorgeous East, 
with all its visions of splendor, should efface 
the memory of the sweet blue eyes that looked 
love into mine—when suddenly my reverie was 
rudely dispelled by a rush amongst the cattle, 
which brought my wandering senses back at 
once, for I knew what it portended. Up 
started the Badaga, and would have yelled, 
but I forced him back and put my hand over 
his mouth. The next instant a heavy body 
alighted on top of the hut. Needless to say it 
